Blood is in the water, no doubt, but Robert Steel still has time. The cure will be painful, however.
Slashing the dividend was required, as was cutting 10K jobs, 6250 of them via outright firings. How many of those will be SVPs in Charlotte? Surely some.
The short-term key is arresting the slide in the share price so that WB does not become a too cheap to ignore takeover target. All the cost-cutting is supposed to do that. It might.
But Wachovia still must deal with the $125b. Golden West hangover and billions more in bad loans. There is no easy way to do that job, one that will take years to fully complete.
